Nov 25 - Houston Chronicle

President-elect Barack Obama is weighing prospects for energy secretary with a list in Democratic circles that includes Washington insiders, a governor and at least one break-the-mold executive.

Possible candidates mentioned to head the department range from Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., to Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius and Dan Reicher, who directs energy initiatives at a Google foundation. Another candidate that had been mentioned is Houston Mayor Bill White.

The Obama transition team has declined to comment.

Looking on, off Capitol Hill Reicher, 52, is, perhaps, the most prominent contender for an out-of-the-box choice.

The biology major at Dartmouth and a graduate of Stanford law school served in the Clinton administration as an assistant secretary for energy efficiency and renewable energy. He now heads climate change and energy initiatives at Google.org, a philanthropy funded by the Mountain View, Calif., Internet company.

On Capitol Hill, Obama could turn to Bingaman, 65. The chairman of the Energy Committee, who has served in the Senate for 25 years, could play a major role as lawmakers consider how to create a cap-and-trade system to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But Bingaman has repeatedly signaled interest in remaining in the Senate.

Former Rep. Philip R. Sharp, D-Ind., 66, also has been mentioned. A veteran Democratic congressman from Indiana, the one-time director of Harvard's Institute of Politics leads the nonprofit think tank Resources for the Future, which provides policy research.

White, 54, who is in his second term as mayor, also has been cited as a possible candidate for the Energy Department post after serving as deputy energy secretary during President Bill Clinton's first term. The former lawyer and energy company executive would bring broad executive experience to the Cabinet post. But White spokesman Frank Michel said the mayor "is not lobbying or jockeying for a position, and he's not been vetted." White has hinted interest in mounting political campaigns in 2010, either for a Senate seat or for governor.

Sebelius, 60, has pressed recycling during her term as governor and vetoed a bill authorizing construction of coal-fired power plants. She also has called for greater federal support for renewables such as wind energy.

The selection process for an energy secretary continued against a backdrop of uncertainty over the scope of the job.

A less important position? The Center for American Progress Action Fund, a Democratic group with close ties to the transition team, has urged Obama to create a new national energy council within the White House to coordinate energy and environmental policies.

The head of such a panel has not been made clear, although Carol Browner, the former head of the Environmental Protection Agency, is often mentioned in Democratic circles.

Given the emphasis the new White House seems to be "putting on energy inside its own walls, the energy secretary now becomes a less important position than maybe in the past," said Frank Maisano, an energy specialist with the law firm Bracewell & Giuliani in Washington, who represents utilities, refiners and wind power developers

"This is someone who has to know about the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and nuclear weapons cleanup sites," Maisano said. "It's not a thrilling job."

stewart.powell@chron.com

david.ivanovich@chron.com

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